Goals in both halves from Tranquillo Barnetta and CJ Sapong were enough as Philadelphia Union bounced back from a Columbus Crew defeat to beat Houston Dynamo at PPL Park.
There were only two minutes and 12 seconds on the clock when Philadelphia moved ahead, with Sebastien Le Toux playing in Barnetta who slotted past Tyler Deric.
Houston responded well to the early setback and goalkeeper John McCarthy had to be alert to keep out Will Bruin on the 20-minute mark.
The hosts took the warning and grew on top again, with Maurice Edu and Sapong going close, but Dynamo survived to trail by the solitary goal heading into the second period.
However, Union took a giant step towards the win on 63 minutes when Fabinho capitalised on a defensive mix-up before squaring to Sapong, who made no mistake from close range.
The second goal deflated the visitors, who only managed three shots in the second half, and Philadelphia eased to a comfortable win.
Shane Callaghan
